


THE Blupjeans Camping Fic

by mothmeal



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Also what is time??, Barry Bluejeans Loves Lup, Camping, Cooking, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, I don’t know how to play dnd, Injury Recovery, Listen they’re just in love, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Nerd Barry Bluejeans, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28068393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothmeal/pseuds/mothmeal
Summary: Barry is sent as a diplomat with the Starblaster crew in order to find the light, unfortunately things go very, very wrong.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Comments: 9
Kudos: 13





	THE Blupjeans Camping Fic

**Author's Note:**

> Some small warnings for: descriptions of injuries and blood, along with psychoactive magical poison. Also, improvised medicine.

“Capn’port, sure you don’t want me to stay with the ship? I totally get it if you’d rather go towards their little town or whatever.”

“Barry, you’ve done that the past 7 cycles, I’m sure I can handle it this time. Now, go be a diplomat.” Barry took a deep breath. Right. Diplomatic. It would be fine, and he had the others to back him up. Problem was, he had never been all that assertive. Even as a child, his peers trampled him, and joining fantasy speech and debate later on didn’t do much to help out. Sure, he cut an imposing figure, but anyone who saw past his stature could tear him apart. For now though, he had to put it away. After all, the only thing they needed was a truce. He joined the gang, everyone sans Capn’port and Lucy, and they set out towards one of the closer civilizations on this new plane.

The trek was miserable, the air bearable at first, but sticky after 15 minutes, and the heat slowly grew as they trudged through endless forest. Conversation had long since stopped, their energy devoted to just keeping their feet moving. It was pretty though, Barry supposed ruefully, staring off a rocky outcropping over a small river. Honestly, he was considering stripping right this instant, though nothing chafed like wet jorts. Lup sidled up behind him.

“Trying to stop myself from jumping in there right now. Probably not worth it, we don’t want to hop in if we don’t know what’s in there...and I can’t swim...but it looks pretty nice.”

“I doubt that anything big enough to hurt us could fit in that water.” Lup considered this for a second, then grinned. Barry knew that grin, and braced himself while taking a mental photograph to save for later. After all, time with Lup was time well spent. She interrupted his thoughts.

“Well, they’ve always called me a risk taker. Last one in has to ask Merle to get rid of the plants in the bathroom?” That caught everyone’s attention, and although she received a dirty look from Merle, Lup and the rest were too busy rushing towards the water. Fuck. He conceded on wading near the shore, and thankfully he was able to roll up his jorts enough that they wouldn’t get wet and chafe. Until Lup splashed him. 

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” he said, spinning and then shooting a wall of water back at her, plastering her hair to her face and making her sputter. What he wasn’t expecting, though, was a full on tackle. He was on his ass in 1 second flat, and Lup was suddenly closer than he’d expected, sitting right across from him in the water and giggling. Barry could feel a blush forming on his cheeks as he stared at her. Lup was feeling much the same, her distance was professional and obligatory, but she looked at Barry, startled and soggy, up to his chest in the water, and it was like the moment with the robitt all over again. 

Her heart raced, and she kept her eye contact, hugging her knees and watching the color rise on his cheeks. He had no damn right. Magnus’ yell broke the moment, and shook Lup out of her idiotic thoughts. She offered a hand to Barry, and hauled him up, allowing herself one last good look before she strolled over to where Magnus was attempting to pull a fish off of his toe. Barry, however, was dumbstruck. That couldn’t be...imagined, right? His hand still tingled - was he really that touch starved? 

After another hour and a half of walking, they finally arrived outside of the closest walled village. Barry was relieved to see that both of the guards had magic, sometimes people weren’t so...tolerant of it, and this would definitely be a step forward for them. The others were having a tiny argument, trying to figure out who would go first.

“I think we should send Merle, I hate to say it, but he’s the friendliest,” Lup said.

“Sister dearest, I love you, but are you out of your godsdamn mind? He’s the nice that’s kinda creepy, and besides that, he’s also a shit liar.”

“Hey! I’m literally right here -” Merle said, indignantly, and Taako and Lup shushed him in unison.

“No offense, Taako, but you’re not the best either,” Barry added. “Lup, maybe?”

“How about we all go together? Show them how cool we are? Maybe a little Kenny Chesney in the background....”

“Merle…”

“He does have a point...not about the Kenny Chesney, but the first part,” Barry hurriedly added. Kenny Chesney stopped showing any appeal around cycle 5...

“You know what? Fuck it. Taako’s going to say hello, and anyone else is free to join.” Taako sauntered out of the treeline, Magnus on his heels. 

“Hail and well met, friendly guards,” Magnus called out, and said guards leveled their spears with decidedly not-friendly expressions on their faces. Barry tensed, but continued his walk out of the forest with Lup by his side. Her face was relaxed, but he could see the fire in her eyes.

“Halt. What is your business?”

“Well, I’m Magnus, and these are my road dogs, aka Barry, Taako, Merle, and Lup.”

“Road dogs? Never mind. Y’all have magic?” The guard inquired. Magnus scratched his head. 

“Not applicable.”

“And the rest of you guys?”

Taako answered cautiously. “Yeah, cha boy has magic…”

“No, no, what kind?”

“Oh! Transmutation!” Taako sounded quite relieved, and visibly relaxed.

“Evocation,” Lup said, casting a wary glance at the guards.

“Plant.” Merle wiggled his eyebrows at the guards, and the first one seemed to die a little inside. 

“And you? Human?”

“I dabble in everything, really, but necromancy, I guess?” Barry attempted to pull an intimidation check, and it went so awful that they probably would have just laughed if not for the looks of anger on their faces.

“The rest of you are fine, but he -” Guard 1 roughly gestured to Barry “- has to stay outside. We don’t really like that shit around here.”

“Hey, none of us go in if he doesn’t!” Magnus protested, but Barry elbowed him.

“Just go, I can sit this one out.”

“You sure?” Lup shot him a worried glance, tilting her head towards the guard, and Barry nodded. 

“Ok, then....see you soon, I guess.” Lup and the others disappeared inside.

Barry was sitting with his back against the wall that surrounded the village. He shot a dirty look at the guards, who were looking at him with a mix of revulsion and fear. It wasn’t anything new, but it still hurt. He wondered how long it would take before the others would be back, because his butt was starting to go numb, and he was starting to grow tired of playing tic tac toe against himself in the dirt. Suddenly, a party emerged from the forest in front of him. Not a party party, but a group of people, most likely ruffians or edgy teens, judging by their clothing. Possibly both, though Barry wasn’t sure. He squared his shoulders, but tried to not to draw too much attention to himself. Teenagers were mean…

A scrappy one who appeared to be the leader walked over to one of the guards. “Hey Darryl, what’s poppin’?” The guard sighed. “You’re infringing on the law every time you try to speak to me, Minerva, and frankly, I’m tired of it. Now, scooch. I have a job to do.”

“Aww, you wouldn’t treat an old pal like that, would you?” After a few minutes of nagging the guard, Minerva had their fun, and strutted up to Barry. 

“What a killjoy, ey?” she said, gesturing to Darryl. “Someone inside you’re waiting for?”

“Yeah, apparently y’all have some strict laws around these parts about necromancy.” It was more of his pet project, but apparently, the magic lingered. And, honestly? A point of pride for him. All the concepts mesmerized him, as a both scientist and a magic user. Minerva evidently didn’t think the same way, taking a dagger from their belt and holding it to his neck. 

“Necromancy?” 

“Y-yes? See, this is the same reaction that the guards had-” Barry looked at the guards for help, but they seemed like this was the most entertainment they’d had all day. He knew that they wouldn’t help.

“A yes would have been fine,” Minerva said, still not wavering her dagger. “But we don’t take too kindly to that sort of thing around here. How about we take a little walk -”

That was all it took to finally trigger Barry’s fight response, and he shot a bubble of acid at Minerva, which made them reel back, hiss in pain, and alerted the rest of the teenagers to their little “convo”. Fuck. He’d promised Lup that he wouldn’t make any trouble, but only jokingly, so he took one more glance at the gate and then prepared to do battle against some kids.

It wasn’t even 2 minutes later, and he was wiping the blood out of his eyes to try and attack again when the rest of the crew emerged from within the walls. Well, emerging is an under-exaggeration. The gates flew open, slamming the two guards against the wall, and providing fanfare as Magnus, Taako, Lup, and Merle blasted out at top speed, followed by a horde of townspeople. Hell of a distraction, he thought, motioning them towards him. Barry was well aware he looked like shit, and sheepishly shrugged when Taako yelled about how he wasn’t supposed to make any trouble. The teenagers, led by Minerva and backed up by the mob, were slowly pushing them to the wall, and then all hell broke loose.

After years of working (and training) with Lup, Barry Bluejeans had noticed something about her. She fought like a fire, both figuratively and literally, and it was a sight to see. When she used weapons, sparks flew in her eyes and, if she was moving fast enough, flew off her as she fought. Now, he glanced at her beside him, blasting so much fire at the kids that her hair was dry, and slowly clearing a path into the woods for them. Maggie was holding his own, trying not to kill any kids (morals!), and bashing the shit out of anyone who got close enough to do damage, while yelling apologies, of course. Taako turned into some sort of dope giant reptile...and Merle shouted “encouragement”, and did his best to heal people. Maybe that was what eventually did them in, but taking on a whole village was probably not their best idea.

“Scatter!” Taako yelled, sprinting to the left, and Barry moved to follow suit, but Lup grabbed his arm, pulling him to the right.

“Scatter means different directions, dingus! C’mon, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go.” He could hear her muttering under her breath as they reached the treeline. It felt like bullet time sprinting through the trees, probably because of how doped up he was on the adrenaline, but after 10 minutes, they were weaving their way through immense cracked boulders. That was when things started going wrong. Barry was concentrating on the ground, trying his damndest not to roll an ankle, but then behind him, Lup let out a sharp gasp and halted. Barry couldn’t afford to stop, but he did anyway. She’d tensed up, and was holding her thigh, her fingers around a small crossbow bolt buried up to the fletching in the back of her thigh. Barry had no time to think, so he put her arm around his shoulders, and half walked, half dragged her to cover in one of the natural nooks between the stones. Lup tried to stand up a little taller, and then, with what seemed like every spark of magic in her body, she cast tiny hut, after which she collapsed. The barrier went up just in time, and it was very entertaining watching people run into it. After about a minute of unsuccessfully trying to get in, the mob backed off, presumably to their walled village. Barry looked around their new home (at least for the next 8 hours). The spell didn’t lie, it was tiny, but it was also pretty comfy...if you ignored basically everything about it.

Barry led Lup over to a small ledge, and she collapsed gratefully on it.

“Be careful of the bolt.”

“Be careful of the bolt? Barold, it’s in my fucking leg, I’m not going to forget it’s there,” she snapped. He winced. That couldn’t feel good, and it looked...also not good. Her normally dark brown skin was paler and streaked with red around the entry point of the bolt. Blood circled the bolt, with more continuing to ooze out, mixed with pus that smelled awful. Barry thanked the stars that she was wearing shorts, but this was going to be, in the bluntest terms possible, a fucking nightmare. Not discounting the fact that pain was a hell of a drug, Lup was a lot stronger than she looked, and it was going to hurt when he pulled it out. He was torn, would it be better to just put a simple sleep spell on her, or numb her? 

“We have 2 options here. Do you want the freezing or the sleeping?”

“No deal!” How fast acting was the stuff on the bolt? Already, she seemed clammy and feverish, and her normally clear eyes were starting to go a little hazy, so Barry kept on talking.

“Lup, I really don’t wanna cast anything on you if you’re not ok with it. I just need to know if you want the freezing or the sleeping.”

“Well, maybe the freezing would work, as long as I have you to warm me up, stud...”

“Fuck, you can’t say things like that, Lup. Do you think you can take a little cold?”

“Absolutely, handsome. Tell me, is everyone here as hot as you?” Barry stopped dead, his mind reeling from what she had just said. Someone had just thrown a wrench in the cogs upstairs, so when his mind finally figured out that she was referring to him, he flushed red. He had to keep going though, because she was getting worse by the second. He remembered that Lup had asked him a question, though.

“Just you, but not for much longer. Now, I need you to lay down on your stomach.” Lup obeyed, resting her head on her arms, and Barry concentrated on figuring out the best way to numb the wound, not even trying to hide the color rising on his cheeks. After creating a makeshift tourniquet with his belt (that one got a strange look from her), he settled on pressing his hand on her thigh by the wound, and she let out a giggle, then a cry as the frost settled on her skin. Sizing up the fletching, he made sure he had a good hold, bracing one hand against her thigh for leverage, and using the other to pull.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Wha-” Her question was interrupted by a scream as Barry pulled out the bolt as swiftly as he could. Apparently the numbing hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped. He gulped, staring at the wound it left behind. The tourniquet had thankfully prevented a geyser situation, but the blood was still trickling. It covered his hand as he cast dispel magic, and a burst of disgusting purple liquid shot directly out of the wound, evaporating into a small cloud that disappeared. Lup looked exhausted, and fell asleep right after Barry bandaged her up and had gotten a healing potion in her. He didn’t blame her, hiking, then diplomacy, then battle and running, and then poisoning? Even thinking about it was strenuous. He sat down on the floor, prepared to wait for however long it took, but not excited about it. 

Barry was bored as hell. He’d only been in the sphere for about 2 hours, but he already wanted to leave. Already, he’d over-analyzed every word of those two sentences. She’d called him hot. She’d called him, Barry Bluejeans, hot. It just wasn’t registering right in his mind. A cognitive dissonance. Why hadn’t he thought about bringing one of the Caleb Cleveland novels, but he had a pocket staff with him? To look cool, obviously, but pocket staffs weren’t all that interesting compared to the escapades of that wonderful boy detective. It was funny, they’d found Caleb Cleveland on almost every single plane they’d been to so far. Maybe Lup had one? She was always reading one of those books on the ship. Some things never change...he yawned. Maybe he should try to get some sleep. Better than permanently giving his ass a right angle, anyways. Barry was roused from his doze about 30 minutes later by the sound of Lup waking up. She looked around, a little bit confused, but then softened when she saw him. 

“I knew you’d fix me up. How long was I out?”

“The longest hour of my life, but my makeshift surgery only took about 15 minutes.”

Lup smiled wanly. “How could I ever thank you, Doctor Jeans?”

“Doctor Hallwinter to you.” He retorted. “Thanks to my quick thinking -”

“I’d be dead otherwise, yada yada. I have a good constitution, I would’ve been fine.”

“Tell that to Loopy Lup.”

“Loopy Lup?”

“You, delirious from the poison. Do you talk to old ladies with that mouth?” When he said that, Lup looked...scared? He quickly corrected himself.

“To clarify, I thought it was hilarious. You’re all good.” Apparently, Barry was going the deception route here. Probably her idea of a joke, fake flirting with the guy who’s trying to make sure you don’t die from some weirdass poison. If not, everyone says strange things when they’re hurting. He didn’t want to make it weird, especially when they were trapped in a bubble. It was already dark out, but Barry wasn’t feeling a whole meal. Rummaging through his pack, he found some gummy worms, and he held out the bag to her.

“Care to share with me?”

“I’d like nothing more,” she said, joining him on the floor. She still seemed tired after her little power nap, and after finishing up the delicious little worms, her eyes were drifting closed.

“Alright then, back to bed it is. I’ll be here if ya need me,” Barry yawned. Lup was too busy trying to cover herself in as many layers as possible, partly to cushion the stone, and partly because it was so cold in this damn bubble. Barry seemed fine though, gently snoring within 10 minutes. Lup was trying to replay the first few minutes in the bubble, but couldn’t as most were hazy and delirious with the bolt, and the cold just made it worse. Barry had insisted on giving her the ledge, even if it was just the same stone as everything else. That wasn’t what was bothering her, though. She was trying to figure out what he was lying about. His cues were so easy to hear, and when he clarified on the “Loopy Lup” thing, his heart sped up.

Obviously, her first instinct was to assume she’d insulted him, but that wouldn’t make sense. She could tell if he was hurt, and that wasn’t it. So she was dwelling on the second worst thing: she’d deliriously confessed her love, or something in that range. Could have happened, would explain the heartbeat and his awkwardness about it... She just had to assume that nothing had happened, because that was probably the sitch. No use worrying about it now, though. She concentrated on Barry’s breathing, slow and steady, and tried not to shiver too much. After another 15 minutes, she couldn’t take it anymore, and sat up in the dark to throw in the towel.

“Barry? Are you awake?” She heard a soft hum of confirmation, and continued after taking a deep breath.

“Do you mind if I join you? Because it’s really cold in here, which it isn’t supposed to be, I mean, I’ve cast this before, but maybe it was the poison? Anyways I’m super cold, and it’s pretty fucking miserable-”

His muffled voice caught her off guard. She’d probably woken him up, and he muttered an “of course”, lifting up his blanket as he squinted her in the dark. She didn’t think she’d get this far. Fuck, what was acceptable? Was this a pre-divorce couple back to back thing? What if they ended up cuddling or something? Workplace violation? Actually, probably not, Capn’port would have said something about the starblaster cuddle piles...and it wasn’t like she hadn’t been close to Barry before, but this scene somehow felt so fucking domestic-

“You’re letting the heat out Lup, take it or leave it,” his sleepy drawl interrupted her train of thought, so she steeled herself and rolled under. It was so much warmer than he expected, and when she accidentally touched his arm, he hissed. 

“You weren’t kidding about being cold.” Barry hesisted for a second, then moved forward, wrapping his arms around her. This was fine. This was all fine. Sweet fantasy Jesus, her skin was colder than ice.

Lup could hear his heart beating even faster as he pulled her closer, and she blamed her flush on how warm it was, not her proximity to a hilariously nerdy science officer. But...it felt really nice, she thought, relaxing into him. Then, a memory hit her. She’d called him hot. Fuck. her mind raced, trying to catch a few more details, but nothing was showing up clearly, so she replayed those few seconds over and over again in her head, focusing on his face, trying to gauge his reaction. She focused harder, and the edges got sharp. He had smiled, and blushed, and retorted, something about her being the hot one? The tips of her ears burned, and she prayed that Barry wouldn’t notice. All of the day’s adrenaline was still weighing on her, even as she was cosied up next to him, and Lup yawned despite herself, attempting to scooch a little bit closer under the blanket. Her last thought before she drifted off was the smile on his face in the dark that he thought she couldn’t see.

Barry’s thoughts were much of the same, focusing on her dumb little compliments, and his heart beat faster having her close. Logically, he knew that everyone said weird shit when they’re not fully conscious, but a small part of him wanted to believe it wasn’t just some little joke, that there might be just a little truth behind it. For now, though, he savored the moment, and would worry about the consequences later. Lup moved a little closer, but she was warming up, and they would see the rest of the crew in a few hours. He yawned, and almost got some of her hair stuck in his mouth, which made him giggle before he eventually dozed off.

There was a beam of sunlight hitting Barry directly in his eye, and he squinted, trying to move his arm for his glasses on the table beside him, but then realised there was an unfamiliar weight on top of him. Through his lashes, he could see blonde hair and gentle breathing...Lup. The sun hit her face, illuminating her freckles and making her glow. His breath caught as he stared at her, then gently (and reluctantly) moved her off of his chest. As carefully as he could, Barry shifted out from under her, tucking the blanket around her and lighting his bunsen burner in preparation for breakfast.

Lup woke to the sharp smell of instant coffee and grimaced, that shit was disgusting. Barold squatting in his sleep jeans was a whole different story...she had to avert her eyes. Lup sat up, pulling a blanket over her shoulders and walking a few steps over to sit cross legged next to him.

“Mornin’, babe.” She almost smirked as a blush rose on his cheeks. “Trust you slept well?”

Barry nodded, concentrating on pouring coffee into two chipped mugs. Lup grabbed hers, thankful for the warmth if nothing else. 

“Got any good food squirreled away in that backpack of yours?”

“Lemme check real quick.” Barry rummaged around in his pack until he found the drawstring bag that he was looking for: the refrigerator rucksack he’d bought a few cycles prior. After taking a few seconds to feel around inside, his hand brushed something. 

“Aha!” He triumphantly held out a carton of eggs and half a loaf of bread. “Shame we don’t have a toaster, egg sandwiches, maybe?”

“I have a better idea.” Lup set her mug down on the floor, and snatched the bread from his hands. “Do you have a pan?”

“Can’t believe you’d even ask me, I always have my mess kit with me.” Barry pulled it out, and Lup started to cut rough circles out of the bread with her fingers. The pan heated up relatively quickly, so Lup tossed in one slice of bread, and then cracked an egg in the center. It started to sizzle, and Lup savored the warmth, holding her hands over the pan and closing her eyes. Already, she missed Barry’s body heat. Absentmindedly, she relaxed her arms, and hit her fingers on the side of the pan, hissing as it burned her. 

“Shit!” Lup jumped up, shaking her hand.

“Lup, c’mere.” He grabbed her hand, looked at the small burn, and winced. “The hits just keep comin, huh?” He bandaged her up, and instinctively pressed a quick kiss to the band aid, remembering his mother whenever he scraped a knee. Lup watched him go through probably 10 mental crises at the same time as her. She was dumbfounded, fuck, she was stunned. Nothing but a quick press of the lips, not even on her skin, and it left her reeling. Barry was quickly turning a deep red but he managed to choke out “Better now?”.

Lup nodded, it was basically all she could do. She stood up quickly, and went over to finish the egg, skillfully flipping it onto a plate and starting another. She glanced at Barry, who was silently sitting on the ledge.

  
“Mind if I have the first one? After all of those near death experiences, I’m kind of hungry.” Barry nodded, which was probably for the best. Kind of hungry was a lie, she was starving, and thankfully, Barry had salt packets in his bag. He’d explained earlier that they were “in case of giant slugs”, but it was better than nothing for her eggs, though she would have preferred hot sauce. After Barry’s egg finished cooking, he joined Lup on the floor. The food was pretty good, but honestly? Camp food was always good. Crispy toast, good egg...he and Lup ate in companionable silence, and as they were finishing up, the bubble finally fizzled out, welcoming the heat of the day into the cave. Lup let the sun wash over her and smiled, then turned to face Barry.

“Hey, Barry?”

“Yeah?”

“If I said anything as...Loopy Lup....that might have made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I’m really glad that you were there to help me out.”

“I-It’s no problem. You would have done the same for me,” Barry said, sheepishly.

“Still.” Lup turned to him, and she made herself so sincere it hurt to say. “You...didn’t leave me. And that really means a lot, especially to me, and especially...if it’s you.” Barry was blushing, and Lup almost stopped herself, but kept on going. “And even with resurrection, hell, you could have left me to die, but you did some guerilla medicine shit instead, and chose to save me, and -”  _ I love you. _ “I’m so greatful.”

“Lup…” Barry didn’t even try to put it into words, just reached out, giving her a hug. They sat there for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, and then Barry pulled back.

“I meant what I said.”

“What?” Was he referring to calling her hot? Lup’s mind raced.

Barry looked startled. “Never mind. I was under the impression...never mind.” He hurriedly started packing his bag, and started leading them back to the starblaster, but on the hike, Lup had quite a bit to run through that scene again in her head, and one thing that she knew for sure was that he wasn’t entirely against her affections. Fuck. Taako was going to have a hell of a time listening to this one.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading, if you enjoyed, I hope you’d consider dropping a comment or kudos, it makes my whole day!


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